How To Cope When Your Business Is In Crisis

2018.05.15

As an entrepreneur, you are in control of your own successes and failures. Rather than relying on someone else for direction, you are the one in the driver’s seat. This can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you can take pride in your organization and all that it has achieved. On the other hand, you are the one in charge if you are met with a sudden crisis. If you are wondering how you are going to make it through a crisis situation, you will need to pay close attention to the following eight tips.

Limit the damage

Before doing anything else, you will need to limit the damage. If your business is made up of different departments, try to keep as many as possible up and running. Say you have one faulty product, you need to work out whether or not you can continue to sell the rest of your stock. Or, if you are experiencing problems with your company website, you need to let your customers know that you are still following through with all of their existing orders. Although it might be tempting to give into blind panic or to ignore the problem completely, it is vital that you take control of the situation as soon as possible. Further down the line, you will be so glad that you kept your cool.

Seek out expert advice

The next tip is to seek out expert advice. One of the most important parts of being an effective leader is acknowledging the times when you need to ask for help. Instead of shouldering the burden of your crisis alone, you need to place your trust in a team of trained professionals. Whatever your problem, there is sure to be someone to help. For instance, if your company is met with an extremely unfair review, you will need to get in touch with an organization that can help you if you may need to remove Ripoff Report, for example. This is your best chance of restoring your company’s good name and winning back the respect of your client base.

Meet with your staff

You can also succeed at being a good leader by guiding your staff in the right direction. If they are aware of your company crisis, it is important that they feel comfortable turning to you for help and support. Don’t leave your employees in the dark, as this could result in them questioning their job security and looking for employment elsewhere. Why not hold a team meeting? It is likely that you do this already, but you could schedule an additional meeting for calming any worries and answering any questions. If you decide to push forward with this idea, it is essential that you have a clear plan of action drawn up. You need to speak to your team with confidence, not trepidation. Otherwise, it will be impossible for you to get them on the side.

Work on staying calm

In order to boost your confidence levels before the meeting, you will need to work on staying calm. It may not seem like the time, but you should seriously consider taking up meditation, yoga, or other mindfulness activities. Whilst it might be tempting to drive all of your energy into handling your company crisis, this could result in you running yourself into the ground. It could also lead you to rash decisions that make the situation even worse. Even a couple of minutes of quiet contemplation could be enough for you to clear your mind and control your breathing. Then, you will be able to return to your work-life with a fresh perspective and a positive outlook.

Take inspiration from your industry peers

Another great tip is to take inspiration from your industry peers. The moment that you are struck with a crisis, you need to find out whether any of your competitors have dealt with a similar situation. Although it is unlikely that they will offer you help, you could benefit from researching the companies they worked with. Perhaps they hired a fantastic PR team. Or, maybe they turned to an expert IT department. With any luck, their solution will be your solution. At the very least, they could provide you with the motivation you need to keep going. If your industry peers have made it out of the same crisis, there is no reason why you shouldn’t do the same.

Formulate a suitable statement

Your industry peers could also inspire you when you are faced with the task of formulating a suitable statement. If you decide against bringing in a PR team, this is something that you will have to do alone. It is a crucial step, so it is important that you think very carefully. At this precarious time, something as small as a spelling mistake could be disastrous. Therefore, you should ask multiple team members to read through your statement. You could even turn to your loved ones for assistance, as they might pick up on something you would never have thought of.

Implement preventative measures for the future

During the process of writing your statement, talking to your staff, and reaching out to your clients, you will need to focus on the future. Ideally, you need to be directing attention away from your current crisis and towards everything that you are going to do differently. You will find it so much easier to reassure everyone if you can talk about the preventative measures you are implementing. You need to show that you are learning from your mistakes. Why not present this crisis as a blessing in disguise?

Consider a relaunch

Finally, you should consider a relaunch of your organization. This is another brilliant way for you to put a positive spin on your crisis situation. Whether you relaunch your company website or throw an all-out launch party, the most important thing is that you are turning over a new leaf. If you are going to get your business back on track, you need to draw a line between the events of the past and the events of the future.